Children's School Lunch Choices Need to Improve

It is abundantly clear that there is a childhood obesity problem that appears to stem from a wide variety of issues.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, children utilizing the school lunch program appear to be at an increased risk for becoming obese.  While this might be partly due to the food choices provided to the children, the choices children make while in line at the school cafeteria also plays a part in this growing problem.

A new nutrition research study published in the Journal of Nutrition was conducted to determine if food choices made by school children during lunch met nutrition standards set by the School Meals Initiative (SMI) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).  For this study, investigators measured food choices and consumption of over 2,000 4th - 6th grade children over a 3-day period using digital photography in 33 schools.  The amount of Calories, fat, saturated fat, calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C were calculated and the percent of children meeting the SMI and IOM nutritional standards was determined.  The nutrition researchers reported that:

• On average, children selected about 760 Calories worth of food, ate about 550 of those Calories and threw the remaining 210 Calories away.
• 77% of the children met the lower limit of the SMI's energy recommendation.
• In contrast, only 16% of children met the Institute of Medicine's recommended energy range with 74% of the children consuming more than the recommended amount of Calories.
• More than 70% of children consumed more than the recommended amount of saturated fat.
• Because children threw more carbohydrate than fat away, they consumed proportionally more dietary fat.
• The majority of the children in the 33 schools tested met recommendations for protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin A.

The results of this study present a mixed bag of positive and negative results.  It is great news that children using the school lunch program are meeting recommendations for protein consumption and intake of a number of vitamins and minerals.  However, these results clearly point out that grade school children are consuming too much food and too much saturated fat.  This excess food and fat consumption might well be one of the reasons why a previous study suggested that using the school lunch program increased obesity risk.   Fortunately, programs designed to improve food choices in the school lunch program are already being installed as part of the nations' fight against obesity.

If you are looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy body weight, my easy diet plan is a great way to manage your body weight goals while still enjoying great tasting choices, including protein-packed snacks.

All-You-Can-Eat Ballparks!

Have you read the recent article on the Sports Illustrated website about the relatively new trend in ballparks?  It appears that despite the fact that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, ballparks have been opening all-you-can-eat sections in order to boost sales, and it is working.

According to this article, this trend started off with the development of premium all-inclusive packages, but has progressed to include other stadium sections.  In fact, many of these all-you-can-eat sections are sections of stadiums that typically do not sell out. By selling seats that include all the food and drink that you can consume, ballparks have now been selling out sections that were nearly empty before including the all-you-can-eat promotion.  For sports fans it's a great deal.  One park is selling seats in its all-you-can-eat section for $40 per person.  Most sports fans would end up spending quite a bit more than $40 for tickets, food, and drink if they had to pay for the items separately.  Because ticket sales have increased, so has the number of teams using similar promotions.  Currently, over half of the major league baseball teams have all-you-can-eat seats, up from only a handful of teams in 2007.

It is clear that these all-you-can-eat promotions are helping the ballparks and also helping the wallets and pocketbooks of customers who choose to attend a game, but is it helping these customers' waistlines?  Most likely not!  While some ballparks apparently offer salads, fruits and other healthy options, the majority of foods offered are what we consider typical ballpark fare... hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, soda, ice cream, and more.  Not exactly the healthiest of choices.  Even when healthy options are offered, customers reportedly opt for the less healthy choices because it is part of the ballpark culture.  In addition to being offered less than healthy food choices in most cases, the all-you-can-eat ballpark atmosphere leads to some serious overeating.  One customer mentioned in the article apparently eats double or triple what he would normally eat in another section of the stadium, stating "I figure I might as well take advantage of it".  This is the same attitude many of us take at any buffet, whether at a ballpark or our favorite restaurant.

Eating healthy is a challenge for most of us in the best of situations.  Putting ourselves in all-you-can-eat situations makes it even more difficult to eat healthy.  While I would never tell anyone to stay away from a ballpark, I would suggest that you practice restraint if do you have the opportunity to watch a game from an all-you-can-eat section.  Some of the tips below might help:

• Eat a healthy snack of fruits and/or vegetables before going to the game.  This will curb your appetite so that you can resist the buffet longer and decrease your chances of overeating.
• Try to avoid repeated trips to the all-you-can-eat buffet.
• If you order nachos, only get one and share it with a friend.
• If they offer grilled chicken, choose it over less healthy options.
• If a salad bar is available, include a salad as part of your meal.  It is a healthier option and will reduce the amount you eat of less healthy options.  
• Choose healthier dessert options if available (e.g. frozen yogurt over ice cream)
• Choose calorie-free drinks when possible.

My protein bars, shakes, and chips make great options to either consume before going to the ballpark in an effort to reduce your risk of overeating or to take with you to the game (where allowed of course!).   Visit us at www.drtabor.com to learn more about my delicious foods and easy diet plan.

Emotional Eating Impacts Food Choices

When we think about emotional eating many of us picture ourselves splurging on chocolate, ice cream, or other foods and snacks that have little nutritional value.  A recent study published in the current issue of Appetite examines the relationship of emotional eating and depressive symptoms with consumption of energy-dense foods and fruits/vegetables.

For this new nutrition study, 1,679 men and 2,035 women were asked to complete questionnaires to assess eating habits and depressive symptoms.  Relationships between depressive symptoms, emotional eating, and consumption of sweet and non-sweet energy-dense foods and fruits and vegetables were determined.  Depressive symptoms were closely linked to emotional eating and both depressive symptoms and emotional eating were linked to higher body mass index.  The study investigators also reported that:

• In both men and women emotional eating was linked to consumption of sweet, energy-dense foods.
• In men, emotional eating was also linked to higher consumption of non-sweet, energy-dense foods.
• Consumption of fruits and vegetables was substantially lower in individuals with symptoms of depression.

These results are not completely surprising as the concept of emotional eating has been around for quite some time now.  Nonetheless, these findings confirm that our emotional state can cause us to make unhealthy food choices, such as over-consumption of energy-dense foods with little nutritional value and inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables.  This can lead to increased body weight and likely impacts the high incidence of obesity. Programs designed to reduce emotional eating or to recognize emotional eating can lead to healthier food choices and subsequently healthier lifestyles.  Getting rid of unhealthy foods from the pantry and replacing them with healthier options can be one way to start.  This way, when we find ourselves eating as an emotional outlet, at least our food choices on hand will be healthier.

Healthier snacking options might include soy protein rich chips like my Crispy Lace Non-Naughty Nibbles.  They are a delicious 100-calorie snack with 7 grams of protein and lower fat than regular chips.  Visit us at www.drtabor.com to learn more!

Promote Healthy Eating Habits At Your Workplace

When we think about developing healthy eating habits and losing weight, we often think about doing this at home on our own.  However, there is an increasing movement to get obesity awareness and healthy eating educational messages out into public places more frequently.  This is probably seen at the greatest extent in our school systems where replacement of junk foods with healthier options in vending machines and cafeterias has been shown to successfully slow the obesity rate.  However, the success of such public messages to places frequented by adults is uncertain.  Two new studies published this month tested the effect of such messages on eating habits.

In one study, nutrition researchers changed the food environment of a worksite cafeteria in an attempt to improve the employees' dietary intake.  Employees who participated in this study were assigned to one of two situations:

1. a change in food environment that consisted of the addition of 10 new low-energy-dense (i.e. high nutrient) foods and handing out of nutrition labels of all foods available at lunch or
2. the same food environment change plus education about low-energy-dense foods in 4 group sessions, and pricing incentives to purchase low-energy-dense foods.

Lunch choices were monitored daily for 6 months, 3 months before the intervention and 3 months after the introduction of the dietary change.  This change in workplace food environment and education about healthy eating habits resulted in a decrease in fat consumption and an increase in carbohydrate consumption.  Similar improvements in eating habits were seen in both study groups.

A second study examined the impact of a healthy eating education program in two beauty salons.  This pilot study tested the effectiveness of a 6-week health intervention to improve fruit and vegetable consumption, water consumption, and physical activity in African-American women.  This health intervention consisted of motivational sessions between the cosmetologists and their clients, educational information packets, and a starter kit of samples.  Responses to questionnaires provided to the beauty salon clients showed that fruit and vegetable consumption was substantially increased in clients that received the 6-week health intervention compared to clients that did not receive the samples and educational materials.

The positive results of these two studies suggest that workplace changes designed to provide healthier food options and/or education about healthy eating habits can improve our dietary habits.  While much of this type of research has focused on childhood obesity, these studies clearly point out that similar types of interventions can improve the eating habits of adults as well.  Continued development and use of employee wellness programs and changes in workplace break room food options have the ability to positively impact eating habits and obesity risk.

The personal development of healthy snacking habits can be a great place to start making better eating decisions.  My Crispy Lace nibbles make a great option with 7 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber per serving.  Visit us to learn more about our delicious foods!

Dr. Tabor's Diet Recipes

Listed below are some of my favorite recipes, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Chocolate Banana Bliss

• 1 chocolate protein shake packet
• 8 - 16 oz. cold water
• 4 ice cubes
• 1 banana (fresh or frozen)

Mix in blender until smooth.

Double Mocha Melt Off

• 1 mocha protein shake packet
• 6 oz. cold water
• 6 oz. brewed coffee
• 4 ice cubes

Mix in blender until smooth

Strawberry Cream Dream

• 1 vanilla protein shake packet
• 8 - 16 oz. cold water
• 4 oz. plain yogurt or skim milk
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

Mix in blender until smooth.

Peanut Butter Cup-O-Perfection

• 1 chocolate protein shake packet
• 8 - 16 oz. cold water
• 4 oz. plain yogurt or skim milk
• 1 Tbsp. natural peanut butter

Mix in blender until smooth.

Orange Jubilee

• 1 vanilla protein shake packet
• 12 - 16 oz. orange juice
• 4 ice cubes

Mix in blender until smooth.

Bahama Vanilla Vacation

• 1 vanilla protein shake packet
• 8 - 16 oz. cold water
• 1/2 cup frozen tropical fruit (mango, pineapple, or papaya)
• 1/2 Tbsp. coconut extract

Mix in blender until smooth.

Pina Colada Caress

• 1 vanilla protein shake packet
• 8 - 12 oz. cold water
• 4 ice cubes
• 1/3 cup pineapple chunks
• 2 tsp. coconut extract

Mix in blender until smooth.

Root Beer Bonanza

• 1 vanilla protein shake packet
• 12 - 16 oz. cold diet root beer

Mix in blender until smooth.

Fruit Bar Blast Off

• 1 protein bar cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 banana, apple or strawberries cut into 1/4 inch slices

Eat slice of bar with slice of fruit.

Non-Naughty Nibbles Trail Mix

• 1 bag non-naughty nibbles
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup raisins and chocolate chips

Try nibbles in soups and salads!

Find more recipes at www.DrTabor.com/Recipes